Windows Aero

[long ridge]

Is there any way to get Windows Aero to Windows 11? I know the theme is still there but is there any way I can make the Aero file my main theme?

[indigo sleet]

Not natively, no. You'll need either paid or free 3rd party apps:

• Windhawk (I think?)
• StartAllBack
• Stardock WindowBlinds (includes XP, 7, Vista from the looks of it)

And just so it's mentioned: Do more frequent backups and have a W11 USB at the ready, there are few extra risks with a themed Windows

[cyan sky]

windhawk is not paid

[cyan sky]

You can with windhawk

and mods in it

[long ridge]

Ye I dont cate about 3rd party stuff im fine woth that

[long ridge]

The typos 😭

Wait what of I want True Aero theme

Like, the one used in Vista

[long ridge]

I know StartAllBack is paid tho

[indigo sleet]

Then you'd have to use W7, but that is impractical for many reasons

[long ridge]

What reasons?

Oh wait

[cyan sky]

Windows 11 / 10 very much still can render Aero but no glass UI (i think) due to it being built for metro only, and the old rendering is for backwards compatibility --> to achieve this, you must patch DWM.exe (risky, try on a VM first) or .dll inject (risky yet again), unfortunately in your situation, GDI rendering works fine in windows, same with metro, but not Aero anymore

also it depends on your hardware!
my surface book 2 cant render aero even in WinRE CMD or WinPE (which both uses classic aero due to dwm.exe removed and no modern API calls)

if your hardware cant render GDI correctly, don't expect real aero to work

[long ridge]

My computer can render Aero since I’ve seen it done on when I installed Windows 11. That was when I saw Aero

[cyan sky]

in the installation media? (WinPE)

[long ridge]

Ye

[cyan sky]

hmm, usually winPE is basically mini windows OS with almost nothing, since it doesn't have DWM.exe it falls back to GDI or the old aero rendering, though the aero does not have any transparency

though there's solutions, on your main install, you can use mods or windhawk that attempts to mimic or make aero with the transparency

[long ridge]

Well. I got it to work, but only somewhat. The only instances are when apps like Mesen (Nintendo Emulator for PC) or Kega Fusion is open. Other apps will show the default W11 theme.

And also someof the other effects arent even there

[cyan sky]

would figure, UWP never gets effected

[long ridge]

And changing the UWP is super risky?

[indigo sleet]

Don't touch it please

[cyan sky]

Very risky

won't recommend